Come for a visit

Taking a tour is the best way to see what life is like in our Avinity senior living communities. Meet the staff. Visit with the residents. Share a cup of coffee. Check out the apartments. Explore the property. Ask questions. Feel the spirit. If you visit in the afternoon, join us for a meal. Our treat. Walk-ins are welcome, but we can guarantee more time with you when you schedule a tour.

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Edendale of Eden Prairie

LEE Center of Hibbing

Mainstreet Village of Richfield

Scandia Shores of Shoreview

WestRidge of Minnetonka

Mainstreet Village Memory Care of Richfield

Mill Pond Gables of Champlin

Northland Village Buhl of Buhl

Northland Village McGregor of McGregor

Northland Village Hoyt Lakes of Hoyt Lakes

Golden Oaks of Proctor of Proctor

Golden Oaks of Hermantown of Hermantown

Havenwood of Richfield of Richfield

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Valentine’s Day

February 3, 2015

Valentine’s Day is upon us once again and we will undoubtedly hear heart-warming stories of couples facing unlikely odds to survive or to find love. Those thoughts inspired me to share with you the unlikely story of how my wife and I got married. Recently, I was listening to a science broadcast about the statistics of unlikely events in our lives. The conclusion was that they are far more common than we think and we should actually expect unlikely things to happen to us. Well, it happened to me over 20 years ago.

While In graduate school, I met my wife-to-be through a mutual friend. Our first introduction was just a simple “Hello.” Yet, I remember phoning my mother that evening and telling her that “I met the woman I’m going to marry.” I didn’t even know Ann’s last name yet. So, the next day, I asked our mutual friend if she thought Ann might want to go on a date with me sometime. The obvious response was, “Silly, you have to ask her.” Now, you must realize that at that time in my life, I was a painfully shy and awkward when it came to dating. So, two years later I mustered up the courage to ask her on a date. All seemed to go well for us, but by then we were at the brink of graduating and moving on with our lives.

Time passed, seven years to be exact. I began my career and even move to a different state. I didn’t know where Ann was. As far as I knew, she had moved to Timbuktu. As I began working in Appleton Wisconsin, I met a couple who had recently moved there from Chicago. As they got to know me, they wanted to introduce me to a friend of theirs in Chicago whom they thought would be a perfect match for me. Over the years many people had tried to set me up on blind dates without much success. I wasn’t inclined to say “Yes,” but I agreed to travel with them to Chicago and meet this friend of theirs. Much to my surprise it was Ann! She had no idea what happened to me and I didn’t know where she was either. Yet, there we are meeting again. We began dating and were married a year and a half later. Now what are the odds of such an unlikely reunion as ours? People said, “Ah, it was meant to be.” Others might call it destiny. The mathematician would call it an expected statistic. But since this is the season for Valentines, I’ll call it the force of love.

Indeed it is love. I believe that since God is Love, God is actively weaving people into our lives to love and be loved by. We all have stories of loving, caring people who have entered our lives and inspired us to live, laugh and love. In life we often don’t get a chance to choose the people in our lives. We certainly don’t get to choose which family we’re to be born in, and we usually have no say who is to become our neighbor. Yet if our hearts and minds believe that God has woven all these people into the fabric of our lives, wouldn’t it inspire you to believe that each person is a loving gift from God. Love is a wonderful force. I have seen that by loving people, believing and trusting in them, taking the time to understand and to accept others for who they are their lives are changed for the better and our lives become flooded with love. God has entrusted us with the “unlikely” people in our lives. We have the beautiful directive to share God’s love with each of them and to discover something wonderful.

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